Part II-A.The Nature of the Eucharistic Sacrifice

66. The mystery of the most Holy Eucharist which Christ, the High Priest instituted, and
which He commands to be continually renewed in the Church by His ministers, is the
culmination and center, as it were, of the Christian religion. We consider it opportune in
speaking about the crowning act of the sacred liturgy, to delay for a little while and
call your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this most important subject.

67. Christ the Lord, "Eternal Priest according to the order of Melchisedech,"[56] "loving His own who were of the world,"[57] "at the last supper, on the night He was
betrayed, wishing to leave His beloved Spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice such as the
nature of men requires, that would re-present the bloody sacrifice offered once on the
cross, and perpetuate its memory to the end of time, and whose salutary virtue might be
applied in remitting those sins which we daily commit, . . . offered His body and blood
under the species of bread and wine to God the Father, and under the same species allowed
the apostles, whom he at that time constituted the priests of the New Testament, to
partake thereof; commanding them and their successors in the priesthood to make the same
offering."[58]

68. The august sacrifice of the altar, then, is no mere empty commemoration of the passion
and death of Jesus Christ, but a true and proper act of sacrifice, whereby the High Priest
by an unbloody immolation offers Himself a most acceptable victim to the Eternal Father,
as He did upon the cross. "It is one and the same victim; the same person now offers
it by the ministry of His priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner of
offering alone being different."[59]

69. The priest is the same, Jesus Christ, whose sacred Person His minister represents. Now
the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is made like
to the High Priest and possesses the power of performing actions in virtue of Christ's
very person.[60] Wherefore in his priestly activity
he in a certain manner "lends his tongue, and gives his hand" to Christ.[61]

70. Likewise the victim is the same, namely, our divine Redeemer in His human nature with
His true body and blood. The manner, however, in which Christ is offered is different. On
the cross He completely offered Himself and all His sufferings to God, and the immolation
of the victim was brought about by the bloody death, which He underwent of His free will.
But on the altar, by reason of the glorified state of His human nature, "death shall
have no more dominion over Him,"[62] and so
the shedding of His blood is impossible; still, according to the plan of divine wisdom,
the sacrifice of our Redeemer is shown forth in an admirable manner by external signs
which are the symbols of His death. For by the "transubstantiation" of bread
into the body of Christ and of wine into His blood, His body and blood are both really
present: now the eucharistic species under which He is present symbolize the actual
separation of His body and blood. Thus the commemorative representation of His death,
which actually took place on Calvary, is repeated in every sacrifice of the altar, seeing
that Jesus Christ is symbolically shown by separate symbols to be in a state of
victimhood.

71. Moreover, the appointed ends are the same. The first of these is to give glory to the
Heavenly Father. From His birth to His death Jesus Christ burned with zeal for the divine
glory; and the offering of His blood upon the cross rose to heaven in an odor of
sweetness. To perpetuate this praise, the members of the Mystical Body are united with
their divine Head in the eucharistic sacrifice, and with Him, together with the Angels and
Archangels, they sing immortal praise to God [63]
and give all honor and glory to the Father Almighty.[64]

72. The second end is duly to give thanks to God. Only the divine Redeemer, as the eternal
Father's most beloved Son whose immense love He knew, could offer Him a worthy return of
gratitude. This was His intention and desire at the Last Supper when He "gave
thanks."[65] He did not cease to do so when
hanging upon the cross, nor does He fail to do so in the august sacrifice of the altar,
which is an act of thanksgiving or a "eucharistic" act; since this "is
truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation."[66]

73. The third end proposed is that of expiation, propitiation and reconciliation.
Certainly, no one was better fitted to make satisfaction to Almighty God for all the sins
of men than was Christ. Therefore, He desired to be immolated upon the cross "as a
propitiation for our sins, not for ours only but also for those of the whole world"[67] and likewise He daily offers Himself upon our
altars for our redemption, that we may be rescued from eternal damnation and admitted into
the company of the elect. This He does, not for us only who are in this mortal life, but
also "for all who rest in Christ, who have gone before us with the sign of faith and
repose in the sleep of peace;"[68] for whether
we live, or whether we die "still we are not separated from the one and only
Christ."[69]

74. The fourth end, finally, is that of impetration. Man, being the prodigal son, has made
bad use of and dissipated the goods which he received from his heavenly Father.
Accordingly, he has been reduced to the utmost poverty and to extreme degradation.
However, Christ on the cross "offering prayers and supplications with a loud cry and
tears, has been heard for His reverence."[70]
Likewise upon the altar He is our mediator with God in the same efficacious manner, so
that we may be filled with every blessing and grace.

75. It is easy, therefore, to understand why the holy Council of Trent lays down that by
means of the eucharistic sacrifice the saving virtue of the cross is imparted to us for
the remission of the sins we daily commit.[71]

76. Now the Apostle of the Gentiles proclaims the copious plenitude and the perfection
of the sacrifice of the cross, when he says that Christ by one oblation has perfected for
ever them that are sanctified.[72] For the merits
of this sacrifice, since they are altogether boundless and immeasurable, know no limits;
for they are meant for all men of every time and place. This follows from the fact that in
this sacrifice the God-Man is the priest and victim; that His immolation was entirely
perfect, as was His obedience to the will of His eternal Father; and also that He suffered
death as the Head of the human race: "See how we were bought: Christ hangs upon the
cross, see at what a price He makes His purchase . . . He sheds His blood, He buys with
His blood, He buys with the blood of the Spotless Lamb, He buys with the blood of God's
only Son. He who buys is Christ; the price is His blood; the possession bought is the
world."[73]

77. This purchase, however, does not immediately have its full effect; since Christ, after
redeeming the world at the lavish cost of His own blood, still must come into complete
possession of the souls of men. Wherefore, that the redemption and salvation of each
person and of future generations unto the end of time may be effectively accomplished, and
be acceptable to God, it is necessary that-men should individually come into vital contact
with the sacrifice of the cross, so that the merits, which flow from it, should be
imparted to them. In a certain sense it can be said that on Calvary Christ built a font of
purification and salvation which He filled with the blood He shed; but if men do not bathe
in it and there wash away the stains of their iniquities, they can never be purified and
saved.

78. The cooperation of the faithful is required so that sinners may be individually
purified in the blood of the Lamb. For though, speaking generally, Christ reconciled by
His painful death the whole human race with the Father, He wished that all should approach
and be drawn to His cross, especially by means of the sacraments and the eucharistic
sacrifice, to obtain the salutary fruits produced by Him upon it. Through this active and
individual participation, the members of the Mystical Body not only become daily more like
to their divine Head, but the life flowing from the Head is imparted to the members, so
that we can each repeat the words of St. Paul, "With Christ I am nailed to the cross:
I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."[74]
We have already explained sufficiently and of set purpose on another occasion, that Jesus
Christ "when dying on the cross, bestowed upon His Church, as a completely gratuitous
gift, the immense treasure of the redemption. But when it is a question of distributing
this treasure, He not only commits the work of sanctification to His Immaculate Spouse,
but also wishes that, to a certain extent, sanctity should derive from her
activity."[75]